Young Rangers on an uptick at midpoint of development season
Isiah Kiner-Falefa of the Rangers beats the throw to the plate and to catcher Tom Murphy of the Rockies to score the winning run at Globe Life Park in Arlington on June 17, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Isiah Kiner-Falefa was only five games into his first Triple-A season when he got called up by the Texas Rangers in early April. A few days later, Ronald Guzman got promoted and also made his big-league debut.
When Texas reached the midpoint of the regular season this week, the 23-year-old rookies were among eight position players on the roster who are 25 or younger.
While the Rangers were on a 70-win pace after a loss in the 81st of their 162 games, they've had a recent uptick. They have won nine of their last 11 games while claiming four consecutive series in a stretch when veteran stalwarts Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus were finally back in the lineup together.
In the 82nd game Wednesday night, when the Rangers (36-46) started the second half of their schedule before an off day Thursday, lefty Mike Minor took a perfect game into the seventh of a 5-2 victory over San Diego. Keone Kela, the hard-throwing 25-year-old closer, got his 20th save - the most in the majors without a blown chance and a club record to start a season.
"When you take all the individual parts of the first half and you look and evaluate players of where they're trending, they're trending in the right direction athletically as well as mentally of how they play the baseball game," fourth-year manager Jeff Banister said. "We've gained some knowledge, and some guys have proven to themselves that they can play at this level and where they're at and what they need to work on."
General manager Jon Daniels has said publicly several times that the team's priority this season is the development of its young players.
Young sluggers Nomar Mazara and Joey Gallo were already regulars in the lineup before this season, along with second baseman Rougned Odor. Speedy center fielder Delino DeShields has been a constant since returning from a broken bone in his left hand, an injury that occurred the first weekend of the season.
"Our coaches, they've put that development hat on," Banister said. "You watch them every day on the field, different players working on different things that we feel like they're going to help these players out for the longer term, for the bigger picture."
Kiner-Falefa was called up when Odor, the 23-year-old already in his fourth season with Texas, went on the disabled list with a left hamstring strain. Andrus, the shortstop in his 10th season at age 29, suffered a broken elbow when hit by a pitch just a couple of days later. Beltre had more hamstring issues.
"Everything happened so quick," said Kiner-Falefa, who has two starts at catcher after previous starts at second base, third base and shortstop. "I'm trying to soak it all in. ... It's been a cool experience. I've had the opportunity to learn from everyone here, and all the veterans."
Guzman has 51 starts at first base, though he is on the seven-day concussion disabled list. The Rangers were batting when Guzman slammed his head into a knee on an attempted pickoff Monday.
Profar was 19 when he homered in his first big league at-bat in 2012, but he missed all of the 2014 and 2015 seasons because of right shoulder issues. He split each of the last two seasons between the Rangers and Triple-A Round Rock, but has started at all four infield positions this year in his most consistent action in the majors.
"I've got a really good chance to experience the big leagues, a lot of things that you want to work to be consistent on," Profar said. "We have very good young players here, we're all learning. It's going to be good for us going down the road."
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